Drosophila Core's overall objectives and Abstract Over 100 years of research has established the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a premier model system. As translational research, systems biology and genomics come of age, researchers are increasingly turning to more simple model systems to gain insights into the molecular mechanisms and phenotypic outcomes of genetic lesions in their particular genes of interest. To date, 60% of disease related genes in humans have conserved counterparts in flies. Further, virtually all of the signaling pathways implicated in cancer, metabolic diseases, and congenital birth defects are conserved in flies. The Drosophila Genetics and RNAi Core, designed to serve this program project, allows researchers the opportunity to benefit directly from the vast resources and knowledge that Drosophila offers as a genetically amenable, rapidly growing and relatively inexpensive model system. This work has the potential to identify essential pathway(s) and processes involved in development of the structures that are defective in CDH.